Wigan, Greater Manchester: Daniel Ratchford

CONVICTED (2021) | serial wildlife criminal Daniel Ratchford, born 9 December 1984, of 4 Stratford Street, Standish, Wigan WN6 7AH – caught hunting wild animals with dogs despite a lifetime ban imposed in 2014

Serial wildlife criminal Daniel Ratchford was found to be in breach of a lifetime ban on keeping dogs

Daniel Ratchford was made the subject of a five-year court order banning him from vast areas of Lancashire and Merseyside after being found guilty of four poaching offences; hunting wild animals with dogs; and five breaches of a Dog Disqualification Order.

Ratchford is now excluded from entering large parts of West Lancashire and Sefton districts. This includes all rural areas between Ormskirk and the Sefton coast, between Ormskirk and Crosby, Maghull, Kirkby and between Wigan and Lancashire around the Douglas Valley.

It also prevents Ratchford from being part of a group of two or more people who are in control of any dog anywhere in England and Wales.

He is banned from trespassing on any land and from acting in a manner that causes or is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

In addition to the Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO), he was also handed a 32-week custodial sentence suspended for two years; a 16-week 7pm to 6am tagged curfew; 50-day Rehabilitation Order; and a lifetime prohibition from keeping dogs. All of his dogs were forfeited to police for rehoming.

Wildlife criminal Daniel Ratchford from Wigan

An investigation into Ratchford began after police received information that he was committing poaching offences on private farmland, allowing his lurcher-cross dogs to kill wild rabbits and hares.

As a result, Lancashire’s South Rural Task Force, along with Merseyside Police’s Wildlife Crime Unit and RSPCA Special Operations Unit, executed a warrant at Ratchford’s property in the early hours of the Thursday, March 11, 2021.

Five dogs were found inside, in breach of his lifetime disqualification which he was given in 2014, after being convicted alongside John Daly, Reece Welsh and Ryan Kennedy of causing unnecessary suffering to a dog. For this offence, he was sentenced to twelve weeks’ imprisonment.

Speaking after the sentencing, PC Paddy Stewart, Rural, Wildlife & Heritage Crime Officer in Lancashire’s South Rural Task Force said: “Ratchford has shown absolutely no regard for animals’ rights to live peacefully in the wild.

“Instead, he allowed his dogs to cruelly maim and kill rabbits and hares.

“The fact is that offenders like Ratchford know that animals like hares don’t die instantly after one bite from a dog, they are agile are often are unsuccessfully grabbed several times, causing graphic injuries and distress. And that’s if they survive; the vast majority die suffering and screaming in agonising pain.

“This is a serious criminal offence, with often misunderstood and far-reaching impacts on our rural communities and I hope that this result shows those who commit these types of offences, whether that be against wildlife or farming, we have a dedicated team of officers and we will find you.”

PC Stewart added: “We need the rural communities of West Lancashire and Merseyside to help us enforce Ratchford’s CBO and report if they see him committing any breaches of the order, to please call us on 101.”

Manchester Evening News

One thought on “Wigan, Greater Manchester: Daniel Ratchford”

  1. What a sad life this scum of a human being has. A bit of work he wants, he wouldn’t have the energy to go out Lamping in the nights and Killing Wildlife with Dogs. The Law is obviously to soft on Scum such as this. He has obviously not taken any notice of the Law or His Banning Order and has still been keeping Dogs. He won’t have no luck for what he has been up to.

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